Team 12 Turned into Animals
by Ryume Kazemizu
Summary: Team 12 are coming back from a mission but unexpectedly turn into animals...of Rynn, Ryume, and Risu's favorites'. How will they tell Team 11 about their forms? And how will they get back their human bodies? And did NOT feel like putting chapters,sorry


There was a sweltering midday heat in the forest outside of Konoha. Hikuro, Itazura and Kinaga (Team 12) were already weary and tired on their way back from their latest mission, and the heat certainly wasn't helping make things better for them.  
Suddenly, Kinaga stopped and slid behind the base of a tree, motioning his teammates to follow suit. He whispered, "I think someone's onto us, guys..."  
Almost immediately after he said that, three darts flew at the ninja and hit each of them in the neck. Their lack of concentration had cost them their (not their lives but…) human forms!  
The attacking ninja receded back into the forest, in case the serum team 12 had been injected with had gone wrong. Unfortunately it had worked, turning Hikuro, Itazura and Kinaga into a dog (a mutt with long scruffy black furr on top of his head that hangs in his eyes, black body, brown legs, tail tip, muzzle, ears and underbelly), a fennec fox, and a red panda respectively. The transformation would use up lots of energy, causing them to pass out and not wake until just before sunset...

---  
Kinaga slowly swam into consciousness and saw the sun just about to set through the leafy canopy of the forest.

_What happened?_ He thought and he pushed himself to his feet. He froze. Why could he only see a few feet about the ground?

_I must be on my hands and knees... wow... must've knocked my head really hard to think I'm on my feet..._ He reasoned and again tried to get to his feet. Finally, success. He was now vertical... but something was still wrong.

_Why am I so short?!?_ Kinaga thought frantically now knowing he was on his feet but he was still too low to the ground.

_Did I shrink!? AHHH!!!_ Kinaga panicked.

"Hikuro! Itazura! Why am I...!" He started to exclaim and then stopped suddenly. His voice was wrong. It sounded like... roaring.

_What's happening to me!? _He panicked again and he finally looked down at his body and nearly passed out again.

_This... is NOT... happening..._ He thought disbelievingly. His body was covered in fur. But it wasn't even really HIS body... it was the body of some sort of... animal?

"Guys!!!?" He said again only to have the sound of an extremely disgruntled roar come to his ears.

_No, no, no!!! _Kinaga ran around in a circle trying to see the rest of his body and only catching glimpses of a red body and butt.

He was a red panda.

"NOOO!!!!!" Kinaga tried to say but it sounded more like, "AROOO!!!!!!!" A very despaired arooo. Kinaga ran around the forest roaring in despair and searching for the members of his team and only found a sleeping mutt and fennec fox nearby... sleeping right next to each other... like they knew each other. It clicked in Kinaga's' head and he immediately pounced on the mutt waking it up...

---  
Hikuro let out a sharp yelp from his throat and jumped into the air a couple feet from surprise. He looked down and saw a red panda panicking at his feet.  
_ What the hell is that thing? And what's it doing?_ Mentally shrugging it off, Hikuro got to his feet but stopped short as he looked at his surroundings. _Did the trees get taller? And what's that smell? Ugh, ew. What the hell did I get hit with?_  
Hikuro sneezed and he shook his head like a dog. But while he shook his head, he heard the flapping of loose skin and fur at the top of his head. He froze and felt his ear twitch. He raised his paw in front of his face and hit his long muzzle. _WHAT THE HELL!?!?_ actually came out as a long howl that caused the fennec fox to wake up suddenly and the red panda stop running around in circles.  
_What happened to me!? Why am I a dog!? This can't be happening! Itazura? Kinaga? Where are yooouuu?_ The black and brown dog sat on his behind and howled.

---  
The little fennec leaped to his feet at the howl, thinking it was Kasaigaru, only to see a howling mutt and panicking red panda running around. He looked around; everything seemed strangely taller, and the ground seemed much closer. Beneath him, he saw two little reddish-black paws. Itazura stared down at them in shock, having the move them to insure himself that they were really his...paws. His poofy tail phwooshed behind him, making him whip around and pin it, out of instinct. The tip was red; the rest was the same color as his paws. He suddenly realized his ears seemed quite heavy, and drooped them down so he could see them. His dark green eyes widened: they were HUGE!  
He looked back up toward the bewildered animals and trotted up to them, feeling quite odd. "Hey, um...geez, this is weird...are you...?" He began to notice small, but distinct features of both animals that resembled his teammates. "Hikuro...? Kinaga...?? Guys, what's going on here??" He sat quietly and waited to see if his buddies knew anymore than he did of their current predicament...  
---

Kinaga did not know what to do... so he ran in circles. The red panda instinct thought it was a good idea. The mutt howled but Kinaga could make out the words in the howl.

_Kinaga? Where are yooouuu? _It howled. Kinaga froze.

"Well... I'm right here, Hikuro. What the heck is going on?" He grunted at the mutt.

Suddenly the fennec fox awoke, seemingly startled and inspected himself... his face was comical when he inspected his ears.

"Hikuro...? Kinaga...?? Guys, what's going on here??" The fox asked.

"I don't know!!!" Kinaga growled, panicky again. "I woke up as a... a panda... a RED panda..." Kinaga tried to contort his face into an expression of a mix of terror, curiosity and bewilderment. He wound up grimacing. Red Pandas apparently don't have the required muscles to make such expressions.

"I'm so confused..." Kinaga whimpered and plopped onto the ground. His ear itched and automatically brought his paw up to his mouth, licked it and then rubbed his ear forward with his paw a few times and then brought his paw down.

"Hey you! Panda! Get away from my tree!" A voice sounded from above. Kinaga looked upwards and saw a squirrel in a branch far above his head.

Kinaga snorted.

"Or what? Ow!" He started sneering and ended surprised when an acorn flew down from the branch and hit his snout.

"Hey! Ouch!" He continued as the squirrel dropped more acorns onto him.

"Get! Away! From! My! Tree!!! Or else I'll get my 2nd cousin Taiyou to take care of you! She owes me from some recon work anyway... "

"Taiyou! You know Taiyou!? Ouch! STOP THROWING THOSE ACORNS OR I'LL CLIMB THE TREE AND RIP YOU TO SHREDS!!!!" Kinaga roared.

The squirrel scrambled up the tree to a higher branch and continued his battering of Kinaga with the acorns.

"GET AWAY FROM MY TREE!!!" The squirrel shrieked.

Kinaga sighed and moved a few feet away from the tree more towards the fox Itazura.

--

Hikuro finally stopped howling to watch the two animals in front of him inspect their abnormally large ears or get hit by acorns... rather comically, and which he found very funny. He tried to grin but only ended up opening his mouth, showing his teeth, and his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Hearing a familiar voice, he looked towards the fennec fox and blinked a couple times.  
"Itazura?" Hikuro asked, feeling his mouth close from the ridiculous grinning. "What the hell is going on?" He stopped as he heard an even louder 'OUCH!' from a distance. Kinaga kept receiving acorns to the head and Hikuro laughed hysterically, watching his friend get hit. "I'm guessing that one's Kinaga!" he continued to laugh but stopped short when Itazura called his name.  
"So... what now? We finished our mission and all but... We can't go to the village like this!" He said, feeling his ears go down and puppy eyes showing.

--

Itazura sighed, looking at the setting sun uneasily. "Come on guys, we have to get back to the village before the sun goes down...we might end up as someone's dinner..." He sniffed the ground and found a faint scent of leaf ninja heading towards the village. "Okay guys, I don't know why were...animals, but I doubt this can last forever. We just need to be calm and focus."  
He gives Kinaga a concerned look. "Kinaga, just move away from the tree, we've got a village to find." After he gets his team somewhat organized, they all dash along the scent trail as it grows stronger, leading them back towards Konoha as the sun nearly disappears behind the landscape.

--

Kinaga glanced at Hikuro and Itazura and moved sullenly away from the tree and followed them down the scent trail to the village.

"What are we going to do when we get to the village guys? Do you think that Rynn, Risu and Ryume will be able to understand us? What if they don't?! WHAT IF WE'RE STUCK LIKE THIS FOREVER!?!?!? OH MY GOD I DON'T WANT TO BE A PANDA FOREVER!!!" Kinaga began to panic again. He does not do well in situation when he does not know what is going on and there is no violence to balance out the unknowing factor. He hyperventilated.

--

Itazura stopped suddenly, turned and smacked Kinaga across the snout with his paw. Kinaga stopped and blinked, surprised.

"Pull yourself together man!!!" Itazura exclaimed and then turned tail and continued walking.

Kinaga continued walking as well. Silent as a red panda can be...

--

Hikuro rolled his eyes and flicked his tail and kept walking behind Itazura. "He's got a point though... What will everyone think? How will we..." he stopped talking and everyone looked at him. "How the hell are we gonna eat, where are we gonna sleep, how can we open the doors to our homes? Dude, we're freaking screwed!"  
He started to walk faster to the village with his two teammates looking at him as if he sprouted another head. A million and one things were running through his head and he felt his ears go down again as well as his big long tail. _What will Ryume think of me...? _He did some anime tears then suddenly had an idea. He tried to grin but failed... Eying Itazura, his plan suddenly became even more brilliant and he just had to go tell Itazura.  
Bending his back legs and sticking his behind in the air, tail wagging, and his ears alert, Hikuro ran towards Itazura and landed a big brotherly love pounce on him.  
"Itazura! I have an idea!" Hikuro's tail wagged furiously and his tongue was back to hanging out of his mouth.  
"Get off of me and put your tongue back in your mouth." Itazura said in his boring, yet effective, voice.  
Hikuro got off and explained his plan to Itazura and Kinaga (who was still inspecting the tops of the trees for falling acorns) while they continued to walk.  
"Don't you guys find this a bit ironic?" No answer. "Come on, you guys! Itazura's a fox...thing-"  
"Fennec fox." Itazura corrected.  
"Right. And Kinaga's a ... uhm, whatever the hell you are."  
"I'm a red panda!"  
"A-huh. And I'm a dog. Isn't it ironic that our girls favorite animals' are what we are right now?"  
Everyone stopped and at the same time Kinaga and Itazura exclaimed: "Our girls?" and Kinaga finally realizing it as well saying "Oh snap!"  
"See? We can work this to our advantage! Since we can't go back to our apartments because of our non-adjustable thumbs, we can stick with Rynn, Ryume, and Risu. They can take care of us and we can try to figure out a way to tell them that-"  
"Hikuro," Itazura interrupted. "That is the most smartest idea I've ever heard come out of that big mouth of yours. Good job." And he continued to walk, although a bit faster.  
Hikuro wagged his tail again in triumph and followed with Kinaga in tow. It wasn't until they heard a loud strange noise come out of the forest did they actually start to run towards the village.

--

Rynn stepped out onto the balcony of Rika-sensei's apartment, watching the sky darken as night began to cloud the sky. She frowned; Raijuu had told her just this morning that team 12 would be returning a little after midday, yet they obviously weren't here. Rynn never was very patient, so she decided to dash off to the main gate to watch for her friends (and Hikuro).  
As she waited for them, she noticed three balls of furr dashing toward the village. She shrugged it off, until the little black-and-red fennec fox sat down right in front of her, its little fuzzy chest heaving as it lowered its ears and stared at her with puppy eyes. The other two animals, a mutt and a red panda thingy, looked at each other, watching Rynn's reaction. She looked around nervously at the animals watching her, and suddenly the fox leaped up into her arms, continuing to give her desperate puppy eyes.  
"Aww, well aren't you just the cutest thing I've ever seen?" the fox seemed to be a bit embarrassed as the other two seemed to snicker at him...

Rynn gave them suspicious looks and they scurried off towards Ryume's and Risu's houses.  
She shrugged and carried the little guy back to Rika's place. "Yer such a cute little fox, ya know that? And I've never seen a fennec with black furr! You must be specially bred, huh?" She scratches behind his ears, and he practically melts. Rynn laughs and kisses his little nose, chuckling as he stares up at her and almost seems to blush. He buries his face in her shirt, his poofy tail flicking in embarrassment behind him. As Rynn returns home with her little friend, the other two make their way home as well...

--

Risu was sitting in her apartment with Taiyou awaiting the arrival of Kinaga. He said that he would come to her house around 1 o'clock. It was late now and he wasn't here.

"Maybe he got caught up." Taiyou said lazily, grooming her fur.

"Hmm... maybe... I think I'm going to go to the gate to keep an eye out for him. You can stay here if you like. I know grooming yourself is SO important..." She said sarcastically playfully.

"Mmph. Got that... right." Taiyou muffled between licks to her fur.

Risu rolled her eyes and left the apartment and walked towards the gate when she saw two animals walking down the street. A dog... and a red panda? What the hell was a red panda doing in Konoha? And especially with a dog?

"Interesting..." Risu mumbled. She continued to walk for a moment, then decided that Kinaga could wait and she went back to see the panda at a closer range. She slowly stalked up behind the panda and dog as they made their way up the street.

Kinaga looked around for Risu's apartment complex. Damn his colorblind vision. The breeze blew up the street from behind him and ruffled his fur the wrong way, making him cringe. Then a scent in the air caught his nose. _Risu? _Kinaga turned around and saw Risu creeping up behind him.

Risu froze when the panda turned. She watched as the panda inspected her. The mutt stopped and turned for a moment, then turned again and headed to the apartment complex. Risu observed the panda and thought it looked vaguely familiar.

"Hm." She harrumphed. "I wonder if he'll come home with me..." As soon as she said this, the panda took a running leap at Risu, his mouth open wide with joy. But to Risu, it looked rather feral. She ducked and let the panda fly over her then she tackled it and pinned it carefully to the ground.

Kinaga's' ribs were being slightly constricted from Risu's body and he wheezed and looked into Risu's eyes. He opened his mouth and tugged the corners of his mouth back in a sort of panda-y grin. Risu looked puzzled then she smiled as well.

"Aww so cute!" She exclaimed and she scooped Kinaga into her arms. Kinaga grinned and allowed Risu to take him to her apartment.

---

"Taiyou! I found a panda!" Risu called as she stepped into her apartment with the panda in hand.

Taiyou glanced up at Risu and her load of red panda. The panda glanced at Taiyou and then got really excited and jumped out of Risu's' hands and bounded to Taiyou.

"Taiyou!" Kinaga yipped, suddenly realizing that she would understand him for sure. That squirrel she was related to understood him fine...

"Taiyou it's me! Kinaga! I don't know what happened but me, Itazura and Hikuro are all animals now! I need you to tell Risu, Rynn and Ryume!"

Taiyou looked down derisively at Kinaga.

"And why would I do that?" Taiyou growled down. Kinaga put his ears back.

"Wh...wh...what?" Kinaga stammered.

"Why would I tell Risu about you guys... this is an excellent opportunity for fun! I can't pass this up!" Taiyou sneered.

"No!!! You wouldn't do that to us!!! NOO!!!! Would you???!" Kinaga growled.

"Of course I would." Taiyou chirruped.

Kinaga leaped at Taiyou's face.

Risu leapt forward when the panda attacked Taiyou and pulled him off.

"What did you tell him?!" Risu exclaimed knowing that Taiyou could talk to animals.

Taiyou gave a mean glance at Kinaga and said,

"I told him he needed a wash. He stinks. Don't you think?"

"Well... no. He doesn't stink to me." Risu said, sniffing the panda's fur.

Taiyou gave Risu a sad look.

"Your poor human nose can't smell anything can it? I'm sleeping outside if he doesn't get a bath. He reeks!" Taiyou said.

Risu rolled her eyes.

"Fine. I'll give him a bath." She conceded.

Kinaga looked up and Risu terrified, then he got a glance at Taiyou's smug face and he went ballistic.

"Tell her Taiyou!!! TELL HER IT'S ME!!!!" Kinaga roared as Risu dragged him to the small bathroom and shut the door.

From outside all Taiyou heard was the water turning on and a pitiful pleading roar from Kinaga.

"This is gonna be fun..." Taiyou muttered...

--

Hikuro sighed sadly and continued to walk towards Ryume's apartment. Everyone had found their temporary owners and he was the last. A whine came out of his throat and his ears and tail went down again as he sulked down the dusty road.

"Ugh, again? You've spent most of your time _out_ of the village then _in_." Ryume almost whined to her guardian, Kasaigaru. They were walking through the apartment complex to her own apartment building.  
The enormous black and blue wolf sighed and shook his huge muzzle. "I'm sorry, Ryume, but it's another meeting Tsunade needs me to attend to with her. Tell Hikuro, once he gets here, to get is ass here and watch over you."  
"I don't need a babysitter..." Ryume mumbled.  
"I know. But it's for the best. Do it so I can ease myself."  
"Fine..." Ryume replied obediently then stopped walking once she was in front of the door to her apartment. Her and Kasaigaru looked down and stared at the brown eyes of a brown and black mutt lying down in front of her door.  
Kasaigaru's boring green eyes glittered with untold laughter.  
"Aww, what a cute dog!" Ryume exclaimed and reached down to pet the dog.  
"Be careful, Ryume. It might... bite you." He grinned as he said it and watched the dog's face go annoyed at Kasaigaru.  
"I doubt he'd bite me. I wonder what it's doing here." Ryume said and pet Hikuro's head behind his ears. His eyes closed a bit and he started to pant in joy.  
Kasaigaru grinned and looked down at Hikuro. He knew _exactly_ what was going on. "Well since you've already grown so attached to him, why not keep him so he can give you company since _Hikuro_ isn't back yet." He tried not to laugh at Hikuro's sudden barks of anger.  
"You son ova bitch I'll kill you! Tell her! Tell her dammit! Tell her it's Hikuro! You bastard, tell her!"  
Kasaigaru turned away and chuckled. Ryume raised an eyebrow at both of them. "What's he saying, Garu?"  
He cleared his throat and his bright green eyes still held laughter in them. "He's just a bit jealous that I'm your master... He's lucky I'll be _gone for a while_. And it's a shame _Hikuro's not here to take care you_, Ryume."  
Ryume raised her eyebrow at him again and shrugged. "Alright Kasaigaru, we can play that game. Me and mister stray dog, here, will just wait for Hikuro to come back. Good luck on your mission."  
Kasaigaru did a mock-bow and smiled softly. "Of course. Train the dog to watch over you; it doesn't seem like he's good for anything else anyway."  
Hikuro growled at Kasaigaru as he walked away and ignored him. Ryume waved goodbye then went inside her apartment, setting Hikuro down on her lap on the couch.  
She smiled and scratched behind his ears. "You're a cutie, aren't you little fella?"  
_Ohhh yes, that feels good. Hmm... I can make this work to my advantage...Maybe this won't be so bad after all-_  
"I have to show you to Rynn!" Ryume suddenly said and jumped up on her feet with Hikuro still in her arms.  
_Damn. Spoke too soon._ His ears went down and he snuggled against Ryume's neck. Ryume laughed and kissed the top of his head. "Aw you're just the cutest."  
And off she went to show off to Rynn.

--

Itazura was in heaven. Rynn had given him plenty of food and even some milk, and lots of cuddles and attention. He was so happy he could cry. Of course, this was unbecoming of him, so he resisted. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Rynn hopped up to get it. The door opened and Ryume and Hikuro-mutt bounded inside. Itazura soon found himself under a growling Hikuro. "Did you tell her? Did you talk to Raijuu??"  
Itazura shook his furry head. "Nope, Raijuu isn't here, and besides, why tell them? I'm having the time of my life!" Hikuro shook his head in distaste and was about to unpin Ita-fox when he felt a hand tug at his neck scruff.  
"Bad doggy, off my fox!! You hurt one hair on his little furry self and I'll Kill You!!!" Rynn's black chakra swirled around her as she grinned evilly at Hikuro-mutt.  
"Ryume, take yer mutt, he almost hurt my lil foxy!!!" She picked up Ita-fox and held him close, sheltering him from the big bad doggy-woggy. Itazura yipped at Hikuro "See? I've got it made" He nuzzled against her as she stroked her poor foxy's furr.  
Rynn cleared her throat. "Ya know...maybe you should go show that...lovely dog of yers to Risu, I'm sure she'd love it", Rynn said sarcastically as she glared at Hikuro-mutt.

--

Kinaga howled as Risu scrubbed the fur behind his ears and as she untangled acorns that had wound their way deep into his under pelt.

"Taiyou I'm gonna kill youuu!" He roared but sat still in the tub so that Risu could clean him faster.

"I know little panda... it's ok... I'll give you some veggies; that's what you eat right?, and maybe some ramen after this... " Risu cooed trying to calm down the panda.

Kinaga whined pitifully and a blob of soap sud landed on his muzzle.

Risu finally began to pour buckets of water onto him to rinse out the suds and she wrapped him in a big fluffy towel and rubbed him dry.

Taiyou called from outside the door,

"Thank you Risu! The smell is so much better!"

Kinaga howled.

"Tell her damn you, tell her!!!"

Risu opened the bathroom door and let Kinaga out of the towel and out of the accursed bathroom. His fur poofed up. Risu laughed.

"Aww so cute!!!" She squealed in a most un-Risu like squeal and she tackled him again and cuddled him, stroking the poof down.

Kinaga sulked and Taiyou laughed hysterically at him.

"You want some food?" Risu asked still giggling at the panda.

Kinaga looked pitiful and gave Risu big panda puppy eyes.

"Of course you do!!! I'll go make you some ramen and some veggies. Want milk? Of course you do... I'll warm some up." She rattled off and headed to the kitchen to fix up the food for Kinaga.

Kinaga glared at Taiyou who chuckled in the corner.

"Tell her!" Kinaga growled.

"Or what? You'll rub your poof fur on the carpet and shock me?" Taiyou burst out into hysterics at the poofy Kinaga.

Kinaga growled and once again attacked Taiyou who easily swatted him aside and pinned him with one gigantic paw.

"Now, now... be good little panda or I might have to suggest to Risu that you ripped up her couch." Taiyou grinned.

"What? Her couch isn't ripped up..." Kinaga growled.

"Yet." Taiyou said evilly and took her other paw, let her claws out and raised it menacingly over the couch cushions.

Kinaga's' eyes widened.

"You wouldn't..." He gasped.

"And blame you? Of COURSE I would..." Suddenly she flung Kinaga back to the other side of the room and curled up and pretended to snooze as Risu came back out of the kitchen with Kinaga's' food in 3 large bowls balanced extremely precariously on her arms.

She set one down in front of Kinaga gingerly.

"There's your ramen... and your milk and veggies. I steamed them... enjoy!" She said placing the rest of the bowls down and awaited Kinaga's reaction.

Kinaga gingerly ate up the hot ramen and warm milk and scarfed down the veggies. He got a contented look on his face and Risu clapped her hands together and plopped on the ground next to him.

"You are just to adorable! I'm gonna keep you." She stroked his head, right in between his ears and Kinaga growled deep inside contentedly.

Risu collected him into her arms and cuddled him, stroking and scratching his fur. Kinaga was in bliss...

_Maybe she doesn't have to know that I'm really Kinaga... _He thought....

--

Ryume walked with Hikuro in her arms towards Risu's house, a bit sad. _Maybe this dog isn't what I thought he was._ She continued to sulk.  
Hikuro looked up at Ryume and his ears went down. _Wait, this is wrong. Why is she sad? She's supposed to be happy._... _I messed up again..._ He whined in his throat and sulked as well.  
Ryume looked down at him and lifted him from under his underarms and made him face her. "What's up little guy? You feeling alright?" Hikuro looked at her sadly and whined again. "Hmm... Maybe you're hungry. I never did feed you I was so excited to show you to Rynn... And look how that turned out." She started to walk back to her apartment. "I bet you were just trying to play with her little fox, huh? You weren't trying to hurt him!" She smiled and rubbed noses with the puppy-mutt.  
Hikuro's tail wagged and he licked her face. She laughed and went inside her apartment, fixing up a bowl of milk and some dog food with scraps of meat. "There ya go buddy. Like it?"  
The puppy ate happily and his tail wouldn't stop wagging, even if it was just a small sway back and forth or a spaz of his tail flying back and forth everywhere. Ryume watched her puppy eat and thought of something. "Oh! You probably need a bath, huh?"  
Hikuro looked up from his milk-covered chops and tilted his head. _A bath?!? _Scooping Hikuro up in her arms, Ryume crossed her bedroom and into her bathroom, turning on the water in the tub. She tried to put the mutt in the water but he clung onto her for dear life, his tail in between his legs. He started to whine in fear and his ears we down.  
"Aw come on, it won't hurt you. Haha, you're just like Hikuro. Rynn doesn't like you, you love milk, and you don't like to get wet too much." She laughed and finally pried his paws off of her and set him in the water. Clinging to the side of the tub, Ryume talked to him as if he were just a friend and tried to think of a name for him.  
"Let's see... I could name you Garu; Kasaigaru would hate that and would probably kill you." Hikuro's eyes widened in fear.  
_That's not funny my Cupcake._  
"Hm. You _do_ act like Hikuro-Kun... I know! I'll call you Kuro-Kun!" She giggled and ended up blushing at the thought of it. "I think it's perfect, what do you think?"  
Now it was Hikuro's turn to be in heaven. _Ryume I love you!_ He splashed around the tub and jumped up onto Ryume. She yelped in surprised and chased Hikuro around the room with a towel in her hand, trying to dry him off. She ended up luring him with a cinnamon cookie and setting him on her lap drying him off while he ate the cookie. It was dark by the time she was done.  
"Oh no. I forgot about Risu. Hm, I'll tell her about you tomorrow, how does that sound?" Ryume said to Hikuro, scratching his head. He barked in approval and she laughed again. Then her face fell and she looked out the window. "But I do wonder where Hikuro is... He's never late without letting me know somehow." She said to herself. Then a yawn escaped her mouth and she stretched.  
"All right Kuro-Kun. Time to get some sleep. We can look for Hikuro tomorrow. I know you'll love him, he's the greatest." She scooped the puppy up and set him next to her on her bed.  
_Aw Ryume-Chan you're the bes. _Hikuro licked her cheek and fell asleep in her arms with Ryume bragging about Hikuro.

--

The next day, Itazura awoke to find he was nestled in bed with Rynn, making him blush and squirm crazily. _Oh gawd, I-I'm, and Rynn...same bed...!_ The idea alone nearly knocked him unconscious. Rynn yawned and stretched as her little fox had his spaz attack, picking him up and nuzzling his nose to his. "Good morning, my little friend hmm...you need a name... She looked him over him, considering certain traits. "Well...ya know what little guy? you look like a..." _is she gonna know it's me?? _"Karasu! Yeah, that name definitely fits you!" _ugh, epic fail Rynn...but at least it's not a bad name. _She laughed and kissed his nose again, making him squirm nervously.  
Rynn took Ita-fox down to the ramen shop for breakfast and got herself a great big bowl, and she got him a little doggy bowl, which he ate slowly in a somewhat sophisticated manner. Rynn chuckled and asked Ita-fox "Hey little guy, want my veggies?" She chuckled again, in memory this time. "I always used to give my veggies to Itazura...he was the best, ya know. Not to mention he's so cute!"  
Ita-fox ate his breakfast and listened contentedly as Rynn raved about how amazing he was, feeling a warm happiness inside him. _There's no way she'd spill her guts to me as a human...but as a fox...hmm, this is turning out much better than planned!_

_--_

Kinaga woke up to find Risu laying on him, using him as a pillow. Apparently they had fallen asleep on the floor. He squirmed as he felt his leg become numb from Risu's' head pinching a nerve. Immediately Risu woke up, sat up and yawned.

Kinaga stretched and winced as his leg tingled painfully from being asleep.

Risu's' hair was mussed up and sticking out on one side and her eyes were still sleepy looking. She yawned.

"Want some breakfast little Panda?" She mumbled as she stumbled into the kitchen. Suddenly a stalk of celery flew out of the kitchen doorway and landed beside Kinaga.

"There you go..." She called blearily as she continued to fix up her own breakfast. It was some leftover cake that some random ninja gave to her from his birthday the day before with a hard boiled egg from the fridge. Risu brought the plate with the slice of cake and egg to her table and plopped herself down on the seat. She inspected the cake for a moment. It was chocolate... and beautiful. She grabbed her fork and devoured the slice in three very large bites. Suddenly the cake was stuck in her throat painfully. Her eyed bulged and she dashed to the kitchen, pulled out the carton of milk, and took a few gulps straight from the carton. She then calmly put the milk back in the fridge and proceeded to eat the egg in two bites.

"Yummy..." She muttered content and glanced at panda Kinaga who was munching on his celery stalk. Kinaga loved celery so he was drooling a lot on the carpet.

"Wow, you know who you look like?" Risu said to Kinaga, getting down on her hands and knees and putting her nose right in front of Kinaga's.

Kinaga looked into Risu's' eyes and wondered if she recognized him.

"You look like a friend of mine. His name's Kinaga. He likes celery too actually. I'll call you Kina. How's that? I wonder where Kinaga is anyway... he should be back already..." Risu stood and put her hands on her hips.

Kinaga whined and Risu glanced down and then petted his head.

"Where's Kinaga, Risu?" Taiyou asked from the corner where she slept.

"I don't know. He hasn't come over yet. I'm going to go look for him. Watch out for Kina ok? I'll be back in an hour. First I'm going to drop by Ryume's' place and see if Hikuro's come back yet either. If not, we'll go together to search." And with that, she left.

Kinaga watched her leave while chewing the last of his celery.

"What should we do with this hour then Kinaga?" Taiyou chuckled, coming out of her corner.

Kinaga growled.

"Will you just tell her? Good lord she's going to worry herself sick about me. Don't you care about her sanity?"

"Of course I do. I'll tell her before she pulls her hair out, don't worry. This is just amusing though." Taiyou giggled.

Kinaga growled again but instead of fighting he wandered into the kitchen and looked for something dark and smearable.

_Chicken broth...? No. Wasabi sauce? Ew... no. _And that was all he could see that was on the counter from the ground. He got onto his hind legs and put his front paws onto the low counter to see more items.

_Chile sauce...? Nah. Soy sauce! PERFECT! _Kinaga exclaimed in his head and he went back to the kitchen door and shut it quietly and locked it with his nose. Then he went back to the counter and grabbed the soy sauce in his mouth and brought it to the ground. This particular soy sauce bottle had a nozzle type thing on it so that you just had to squeeze to get the sauce out. Kinaga smiled inwardly and began to squeeze the bottle gently and the soy sauce began to slowly drizzle out. He moved his head around the kitchen, alternately squeezing and just holding the bottle and after a few minutes the message, "I AM KINAGA" was written on the kitchen floor in soy sauce.

"Hey what are you doing in there? Cooking? I smell an excessive use of soy sauce..." Taiyou called from the family room and she tried to open the kitchen door but could not due to it being locked.

Kinaga ignored Taiyou and spit out the bottle of sauce and waited for Risu to come home.

---

Risu walked over to Ryume's' house and knocked on the door. Ryume answered and a dog was alongside her.

"Cute dog." Risu commented and knelt down and stuck out her hand for it to sniff.

"Did Hikuro come see you yesterday Ryume?" She asked as she stroked the Hikuro's puppy head.

--

Ryume shook her head sadly, "No, he never came home. But he would've told me if he was going to be late." He looked down at the puppy, concern still on her face. The puppy whined and stood on his hind legs, front paws on her leg. It whined again and snuggled against her hand.  
She pet his head and picked him up again, snuggling against his thick, soft fur. He loved that. "I don't know what to do, Risu. Maybe we should just go look for them, I'm awfully worried."  
"Yeah, I agree. Let's get Rynn and go look for them."  
"Sounds good." Ryume agreed and hugged Hikuro tightly. "You can come too, buddy, if you want."  
Hikuro barked happily. _When would I ever disagree?_  
Ryume and Risu walked to Rynn's house with Hikuro-puppy in Ryume's arms and they knocked on her door.  
"Hey Rynn. Risu and I are gonna go look for the boys. Wanna come?"

--

Rynn walked over and unlocked the door, Ita-fox trotting up next to her. "Yeah, Ill join you guys. Come on Karasu, you can come too!" She picked him up in her arms and carried him w/ her. "So, should we check w/ Tsunade first? Maybe the boys already came back but something happened to them..." Hikuro-mutt sighed in desperation, knowing that Rynn would never know how rite she was.  
So, they headed off that-a-ways. "Hey guys, one of us should check the hospital to make sure they aren't hurt or anything! I'm gonna go to Tsunade's...what do you guys wanna do?"

--

"I'll go to the hospital and check for them." Risu said. "But first I'm going to go back and get Kina."

"Kina?" Ryume and Rynn asked.

"I found a red panda yesterday. Seeing as you're bringing your animals I'll bring him. I'll be right back with him. He's adorable wait till you see him!" And Risu was off back to her apartment. She entered the house and was immediately assaulted with the scent of soy sauce.

"Taiyou! I've told you a million times!!! DON'T COOK!!!" Risu shouted covering her nose.

"Wasn't me. Was your panda. He locked himself in the kitchen somehow and then that wretched strong scent came out. He's probably destroying the kitchen. Might wanna get him outta there." Taiyou said apathetically.

Risu sighed and wondered what she was going to do with the panda. She couldn't have him destroying her house just because he's an animal.

She walked over to the kitchen door and tried to open it to find it locked. Standing back, she kicked the door a couple times until it opened. The scent of soy sauce doubled and she saw Kuna sitting there in front of her looking all innocent.

"What did you do Kina!!?" She exclaimed and entered the kitchen and saw the message on the floor. She froze and looked at Kinaga.

"No way..." She whispered and she got down on her hands and knees to look into the pandas eyes carefully.

"Kinaga?" She asked. Her eyes bulged when the panda nodded and then gave a panda-y smile.

_She's got it! _Kinaga thought happily.

Suddenly Risu's face darkened with rage. Kinaga shrank and pulled his ears back as Risu stood slowly.

"Taiyou..." She said menacingly and angrily.

Once Kinaga realized she wasn't mad at him but at that damnable chipmunk, he got overly excited.

Taiyou entered the kitchen, saw the message on the floor and saw Risu's face and dashed out of the apartment in 2 seconds.

Risu dashed after her and she leaned over the railing that Taiyou jumped over and shouted at her figure that was quickly running away from the apartment.

"YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE WHEN YOU GET BACK TAIYOU!!!! BIG FRIKKIN TROUBLE!!!!!" She felt a nuzzle on her leg and looked down to see Kinaga. She scooped him up and ran back to Ryume and Rynn.

"It's Kinaga!!!" She shouted.

"Huh? What?" Ryume and Rynn said together.

"This panda. This red frikkin panda... is KINAGA. And I'm going to guess that that fox you have Rynny is Itazura and that mutt Ryume? Hikuro. We need to get them to Tsunade's asap!!!"

--

Ryume looked down at her mutt and blinked a couple time. Hikuro barked happily and wagged his tail.  
_Dammit Kinaga I was enjoying myself! You're gonna get it later...  
"_Wait a minute..." Ryume said slowly. "That means... Kasaigaru knew about this too..." She blinked again, obviously a bit confused. She lifted the little puppy-Hikuro in front of her face and suddenly turned extremely red.  
"I SLEPT WITH HIKURO-KUN!?!? OH NO!! I'M NEVER GONNA HEAR THE END OF IT WHEN HE'S HUMAN AGAIN!!!" Rynn and Risu burst out laughing as Ryume turned red all over and set Hikuro down. Hikuro licked her hand and pranced around her happily, tongue out in joy; the way a puppy smiles.  
"Let's get to Tsunade's right away!"  
And off they went to Tsunade's office, bursting through her door with the animals in their hands, held out in front of her face. Tsunade made a face and raised an eyebrow at them.  
"I come back to the village from a meeting to find this? Team 12 transformed into animals?"  
Ryume, Risu, and Rynn blinked at her.  
"How did you know that?" Risu asked.  
Ryume made a face, "Kasaigaru!"  
Kasaigaru came from out from the shadows behind the door and grinned. "Yes, Ryume?"  
"You knew the whole time! Why didn't you tell me!?"  
"You never asked." Ryume fumed; but all he did was laugh, "Oh, it's alright. They had their fun, you had yours. Tsunade can change them back, it's fine. It's not a big deal. I've already taken care of the ninja who attacked our boys. They're being questioned right now as we speak. Just calm down and let Tsunade transform them back."  
Team 11 stared at Kasaigaru at what he just said. Ryume felt her face grow hot again and she forced herself to calm down. "Ahem, anyways, let's just get this over with, shall we?"  
Rynn held fox-Itazura and squeezed him tight. "I'm gonna miss you fox-Ita-Kun!"  
Ryume looked down at Hikuro and crossed her arms. "At least Kinaga was smart enough to try to explain _who he actually was!_" She shook her head and sighed. "Oh, Hikuro, what am I going to do with you?"  
The mutt just stuck his tongue out again and panted with his tail still wagging.  
"Alright I have work to go back to so let's make this quick." Tsunade got up and went to the three little animals in front of her. She did a few hand signs and put her palm on the floor in front of them. Symbols crawled on the floor from her hand and surrounded the Team 12 animals. The circle around them shone a bright light then a sudden puff of smoke surrounded them.  
The smoke, instead of decreasing, actually increased until the whole room was covered in smoke and impossible to see in.

--

Rynn felt her face redden as she saw Itazura's naked human silhouette through the smoke, fainting on the ground from the Idea of the hawtnessXD. Ryume uber blushed and looked away before she saw anything and Risu looked away and facepalmed. The boys looked at each other, still a bit stunned.  
Itazura was the first to shamefully realize they were all wearing nothing but their birthday suits, blushing heavily at this fact. "Ahem, guys...let's get some clothes, okay? I-I think were embarrassing the girls..." Does a quick teleportation jutsu before the smoke can clear, the other two following suit.  
Team 11 sat there in shock (except Rynn who had fainted), trying to forget what they had just seen.  
---

The next day, all six of them met up at Ichiraku Ramen for lunch. It was awkward at first, but they eventually got over the little incident and laughed it off. As they finished and left to train or relax, Itazura walked home with Rynn. Once they were out of site of the others, he wrapped her in a big hug and kissed her cheek, blushing in surprise at his own actions. "Karasu would like to thank you for being so nice to him, Rynn. Just thought I'd tell you for him." He smiled and Rynn blushed, laughing it off as she hugged him back as they walked back to Rika's house.


End file.
